ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 203 



Bryophyta. 

 (By A. Ctepp.) 



Apospory and Sexuality in Mosses.* — El. and Em. Marchal publish 

 a further paper un apospory and sexuality in mosses comprising the 

 following subjects : 1. Complementary observations concerning the 

 cases of apospory previously studied by them. 2. Xew cases of apospory. 

 3. Cytological researches. 4. General considerations. When the 

 sporophyte is made to regenerate it gives rise — (1) in case of dioicous 

 mosses, to gonophytes wliich are cytologically diploidic and physiologi- 

 cally bisexual and sterile, but susceptible of extensive vegetative repro- 

 duction ; (2) in case of monoicous mosses it gives rise to diploidic 

 gonophytes of normal sexuality, and fertile. The sporophytes derived 

 from these aposporic gonophytes are cytologically tetraploidic ; they pro- 

 duce diploidic spores, which fix the bivalent race. The aposporic de- 

 velopment of the tetraploidic sporophytes gives rise to tetraploidic 

 gonophytes with very enfeebled vitality and sterile. Among further 

 considerations the authors discuss the consequences of doubling the 

 number of chromosomes in the aposporic products. 



Morphoiogy of Noteroclada.t -V. Schiffner discusses the mor- 

 phology of Xoterodada. The genus Androcrijphia must be called 

 Noterodada, and possesses but one species, N. confliiens Tayl., of Soutli 

 America. The published data about the plant need revision. The 

 archegonia are situated between the two irregular lateral rows of antheridia 

 (" mesotoezia " of Schiffner). The involucres of the antheridia are open 

 from the first ; and the antheridia are sessile. The spermatozoids are 

 very large. The form of the perianth was wrongly described by Austin 

 in 1875. An amphigastral bract does not occur. The sterile archegonia 

 never reach to the apex of the calyptra. At the margin of this there is 

 a strongly developed involucel, as in the Geocalyceffi. The seta has the 

 same structure as in Fellia. Xoterodada has complete spiral threads of 

 the inner layer of the capsule. It is related to Treuhia, and through 

 this genus and Petalophylliim to Fossomhronia. 



Saponarin in Madotheca.]: — H. Molisch writes of the occurrence of 

 saponarin in Madotheca platijphylJa. Saponarin is a glucoside which 

 forms a blue colour with iodin. It has been found in the cell-sap of 

 about 20 out of 1300 plianerogams, and was formerly called soluble 

 starch. Molisch finds it in only one out of 36 hepatics. 



Sphagnace88.§ — C. Warnstorf gives a detailed account of the 

 Sphagnaceaj of the whole world in A. Engler's Das Pflanzeureich. He 

 divides the genus Spha//num into two sections : Lif/iophloea and Inophla'a. 

 The section Lithophh'a contains nine sub-sections : Acutifolia (63 species), 

 Truncata (2), Polydada (1), Rigida (8), Squarrosa (2), Sericea (3), 

 Mucronata (4), Cuspidata (66), Suhsecunda (116). The other section, 



♦ Bull. Sci. Acad. Roy. Belg. (1911) pp. 750-78 (1 pi.), 

 t Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr., Ixi. (1911) pp. 325-32 (figs.), 

 j Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xxix. (1911) pp. 487-91. 



§ A. Engler, Das Pflanzenreich. Leipzig : Engelmann (1911) Heft 51, Sphag- 

 nales, 546 pp. (85 figs.). 



